• USA Today, Thursday, June 4, 2009 10:33 AM

Kellogg will announce today that four out of five of its cereals will have at least three grams of fiber per serving by the end of 2010, beginning with two kids brands infamous among nutritionists: Fruit Loops and Apple Jacks.

The move is expected to rock the packaged foods industry, writes Bruce Horovitz. But adding fiber won't necessarily make a product better, says Michael Jacobson, director Center for Science in the Public Interest. "You can gussie up any product by adding fiber and vitamins," he says, adding that consumers need to check labels for sugars, sodium and dyes.

Food manufacturers are under pressure from consumers and lawmakers to boost food quality, and fiber is the top-ranked item that consumers ask Kellogg to add to kid cereals, says Jose Alberto Duenas, vp of U.S. cereal marketing. Indeed, the number of consumers who check fiber content on nutrition panels grew to 52% last year vs. 42% in 2006, according to the International Food Information Council.

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